The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Gate Burst Open on My Debut Day (17)
The special mercenary recruitment rights could be used in order of the Guild Master’s ranking.
My current rank was 13th, which meant I could select a trainee sixth.
Okada had performed well in the theme song evaluation, but her overall ranking wasn’t particularly high, so fortunately no one had selected her before my turn came.
“I’ll be recruiting trainee Okada.”
“The Kim Chowol Guild has recruited trainee Okada! Congratulations!”
Before the MC could even finish speaking, Okada came rushing over to where Yoo Sung and I were standing.
Okada bowed her head toward me and spoke.
“Thank you so much!”
“There’s no need to thank me.”
“Hello, I’m Okada Hiro!”
Okada bowed toward Yoo Sung, who stood a step behind me with a lukewarm expression, staring into empty space.
“…I’m Yoo Sung.”
Yoo Sung greeted her awkwardly with a laugh.
Okada hadn’t originally been this affectionate, but her personality had grown brighter as she spent time with me.
“Feel free to speak casually!”
“Oh, okay.”
Surely that girl wasn’t thinking of doing a “yobiseu” with Yoo Sung too?
Contrary to my worries, their conversation didn’t continue, and fortunately Yoo Sung and Okada never ended up doing a “yobiseu” together.
Wait, fortunately?
Why had I thought that?
Was there some reason they shouldn’t do a “yobiseu” together?
I shook my head vigorously and decided to focus on the situation at hand.
“Even with Okada, we only have three members.”
Yoo Sung looked at Okada and me in turn as he spoke.
Now our Guild had three members including Okada.
To fill five slots, we needed to recruit two more.
“Oh my, no Guild has filled all five slots yet! It can’t be helped. I’ll give you one more special mercenary recruitment right! Starting from the highest ranking, please select your mercenaries again!”
“That’s convenient.”
Yoo Sung chuckled as he spoke.
‘Is it really that convenient?’
I looked around.
Trainees belonging to various Guilds were debating, saying they should recruit that person, questioning why they recruited this one, and insisting that person absolutely shouldn’t be recruited.
I focused on the 2nd Place Trainee, the Guild Master with the highest ranking.
‘Han Theo took 2nd Place, and the remaining trainees are…’
When I remained silent for a while, an anxious Yoo Sung nudged my shoulder and spoke.
“Hey, it’s almost our turn. You’ve already decided which trainees you want, right?”
“Of course.”
My hesitation was just an act.
Even if Okada was close to me, if I selected the second trainee without any hesitation, people would definitely find it suspicious.
“Kim Chowol Guild, please select your second mercenary!”
“I’ll recruit Seo Ijae.”
“Seo Ijae has been recruited to the Kim Chowol Guild! Congratulations!”
“Seo Ijae…? Who the hell is that guy?”
I clamped my hand over Yoo Sung’s mouth as he muttered with a furrowed brow.
“It’s hyung, not ‘that guy.’ Hyung.”
“Mmph, mmph!”
“You should pay more attention to the other trainees.”
I shook my head at Yoo Sung, who was flailing his arms about.
After brushing off my hand, Yoo Sung composed his expression.
Seo Ijae approached us with an unreadable expression.
Seo Ijae—twenty-three years old this year.
His lowest stat was C+, his highest B+; a well-rounded trainee with neither glaring weaknesses nor standout strengths.
Though ranked 18th, quite high, most trainees found him intimidating due to his expressionless face and sparse words.
“I’m Seo Ijae.”
“I’m Kim Chowol. Is it alright if I call you hyung?”
I smiled brightly and extended my hand toward Seo Ijae.
“Do as you like….”
Seo Ijae grasped my hand and shook it lightly, his words trailing off before he fell silent again.
Having a rough sense of what kind of person Seo Ijae was, I pointed to Yoo Sung and Okada in turn.
“These two are younger than you.”
“….”
“Feel free to speak comfortably.”
Seo Ijae, who had been staring blankly at me, mumbled a greeting toward Yoo Sung and Okada.
“…Yeah.”
From the moment I chose Seo Ijae, Yoo Sung’s expression had been deteriorating, and now he suddenly grabbed my arm and dragged me to a corner of the Filming Set.
“Hey, Kim Chowol. We need to talk for a second.”
Once we reached the corner of the Filming Set, I glanced around.
It was a camera blind spot, but if we lingered too long, the cameras would definitely find us.
“If you have something to say, make it within a minute.”
“Hey, you… ugh, never mind.”
Yoo Sung exhaled a deep sigh, his expression full of unspoken words.
“Seo Ijae… why did you pick that guy anyway?”
Yoo Sung asked me carefully, making sure his voice didn’t reach the microphone.
I tilted my head as if to ask what the problem was.
“Why?”
“I mean, it’s obvious… he’s not exactly cooperative.”
“It’s funny hearing that from you, not Hiro.”
“Hey!”
Yoo Sung furrowed his brow and glared at me menacingly.
Confirming that the camera wasn’t on me yet, I let out a scoff and mused to myself.
What would they do if they found out?
“Ugh… whatever. But seriously, why did you pick him?”
“What do you mean? I told you earlier.”
“What? When did you?”
I draped my arm across Yoo Sung’s shoulder.
The camera was clearly filming us.
“He’s got decent skills and listens well.”
“Huh?”
“I picked him because he’s a trainee with decent skills who listens well.”
“That guy… or rather, that hyung?”
Yoo Sung regarded Seo Ijae with a skeptical gaze.
I shrugged casually and spoke lightly.
“At least he listens better than you do.”
“You really….”
“Anyway, there’s no need to worry too much.”
His skills are decent, and he’ll listen well.
Because Seo Ijae is….
“That hyung’s a veteran, you see.”
He comes from a failed idol group.
* * *
A veteran.
In crude terms, a failed idol.
Shortened to “failed idol.”
The dream of becoming an idol was truly cruel.
Success could elevate you higher than any other dream, but failure meant a bottomless pit.
Trainees admired and dreamed of idols who shone like stars in the sky… only to ultimately fail.
Less than 5%, or even 1%, of trainees ever cross the threshold of debut.
You need both talent and luck to debut.
The members of Winter Boys are now called failed idols, but they must have been brimming with dreams and hope until the debut lineup was confirmed.
However, those inflated dreams and hopes began deflating even before their debut.
‘I went to naming specialists and came up with this group name for you!’
‘Wow! What is it, CEO?’
‘You’ll be shocked when you hear it, hehehehe… it’s “Winter Boys”!’
Winter Boys?
Are you sure that came from a naming specialist?
Did you get scammed, CEO?
The members pushed aside their thoughts and managed their expressions.
What does a name matter anyway?
Plenty of idols have succeeded with tacky names!
What matters is the concept and the song!
However, the members couldn’t hide their bewilderment at the CEO’s next words.
‘You know what our group’s concept is, right?’
‘Pardon?’
‘Our group’s concept is Winter Boys!’
Winter Boys?
I couldn’t quite grasp what kind of concept that was, but still….
‘That’s terrible.’
One member voiced the thought everyone else had kept to themselves.
Fortunately, the CEO didn’t hear it.
‘So we’re planning to debut timed with winter! Since we’re Winter Boys!’
‘The concept is unique and great! If we make a comeback in summer, would we become Summer Boys?’
One member threw out a joke to lighten the mood.
‘Huh? Of course not.’
But the CEO tilted his head in confusion at what they were saying.
‘We can only be active in winter! How could Winter Boys be active in summer?’
I could easily imagine what the members felt, sitting silently and listening to the CEO’s explanation, unable to voice their complaints about not debuting.
‘Ah, this is a mess.’
Because of the damned concept the CEO had decided on, Winter Boys made only three comebacks in seven years, including their debut.
The songs and choreography weren’t bad, but there’s no way they could succeed with only three comebacks.
‘This is the story that Winter Boys Leader tells like a routine whenever he appears on variety shows.’
Except for Winter Boys Leader and the youngest member Seo Ijae, all the other members quit the entertainment industry.
Starting from his third year, the leader realized the team had no future and expanded his activities into acting.
Thanks to his talent and a bit of luck, the leader achieved modest success as an actor and consistently appeared in the media.
Whenever he appeared on variety shows, he’d tell stories from the past, so the leader’s “absurd story about debuting with a ridiculous concept and becoming a failed idol” was quite famous.
Thanks to that, Seo Ijae, who pursued a solo singing career after Winter Boys disbanded, did become somewhat famous, but….
‘People said they understood why he became a failed idol, but they never listened to his songs—only mocked him.’
Even when opportunity arrives, without luck, success is impossible.
Seo Ijae was desperately unlucky.
He debuted at sixteen and was active for seven years, but when his Entertainment Agency withdrew from the entertainment business, the group disbanded.
Unable to abandon his dream of being a singer, he worked hard for a year releasing digital singles, but failed to achieve good results.
To pursue his idol dream once more, he appeared on EX-Grade K-POP Idol.
‘For seven years and then another year after disbandment, he must have worked desperately hard.’
People mocked Seo Ijae, but I like people who are desperate.
And Jang Hyuk-soo likes desperate people just as much as I do, if not more.
My choice wasn’t wrong.
“Great! It looks like most guilds have filled their five members!”
The MC said after surveying the guilds.
Since most guilds had three members, nearly every guild had recruited two special mercenaries to fill out their five.
“Guilds that haven’t filled five members yet and trainees who haven’t been selected by any guild—don’t worry!”
As the MC finished speaking, the screen on the Podium changed.
Names of Guilds that hadn’t filled all five members and trainees without a Guild scrolled across the display.
“We’ll be assigning the remaining members to Guilds in a very fair manner!”
By “fair manner,” the MC meant random selection, lottery, roulette—that sort of thing.
‘From this point on, I can’t predict what will happen either.’
The fifth team member I couldn’t choose myself.
The only variable in the second Main Quest—the Guild War.
“Well then, let’s determine it right away!”
The trainees without Guilds and those from incomplete Guilds stared at the screen with tense expressions.
―Whirrrr.
A familiar sound effect echoed from the speakers.
Names appeared and disappeared on the screen repeatedly, then reappeared as the sound effect ended.
“Our team’s trainee is… Ju Gilhyung?”
Upon seeing the name, I felt a slight shock.
‘What a coincidence.’
When I said nothing, Okada whispered softly near my ear.
“Who is that? Do you know them?”
“No.”
Of course, I know.
I’ve regressed multiple times—naturally I’d know.
But there’s someone beside me who knows Ju Gilhyung far better than I do.
I glanced at Yoo Sung, who stood motionless beside me, staring blankly at the screen.
“Ju Gilhyung….”
Ju Gilhyung was a trainee from LMH, just like Yoo Sung.
The trainee who had collided with Yoo Sung during the Stats Evaluation Stage and tumbled across the Stage.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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